Comines is one of those towns the border runs straight through. The river Lys, the Leie to the Flemish, divides French Comines from Belgian Comines-Warneton, and you can cross from one country to the other on a bridge without noticing much more than a change in the shape of the street signs. On the French side the town hall and its belfry stand over the main square, a tall brick tower in the Flemish style with a pointed roof and a carillon, part of the group of belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO.
What you see is not old in the way it looks. The front line of the First World War ran close by, Ypres is barely twenty kilometres to the north, and Comines was badly smashed in the fighting. The town hall and belfry were rebuilt after the war in a confident regional revival style, which is why the brickwork looks so crisp. That rebuilding is a statement in itself: these towers were symbols of civic freedom in the medieval Low Countries, and putting them back up was a way of saying the town was still standing.
Comines has a sense of humour too. Its best-known festival, the Fête des Louches, involves wooden ladles being thrown from the town hall to the crowd below, a custom tied to a local legend and celebrated every autumn. If you happen to pass on that weekend, expect closed streets and a lot of cheerful noise.
As for riding, this is flat Flanders. The roads follow the Lys through Wervik and Wervicq-Sud, past brick farms, tobacco country history and the odd stretch of cobbles that will rattle your fillings. Wind off the North Sea is the main variable and it can be relentless across the open fields. The interest lies less in the corners than in the layers of history: a few minutes north and you are among the war cemeteries and memorials of the Ypres Salient, quiet places worth a pause.
Comines has twelve thousand people, so fuel, bakeries and bars are all here, and the Belgian side is a handy option for a coffee or a frites stop. Park near the square, look up at the clock and enjoy the fact that you are standing in two countries within a short walk.